Shadows of the Past, Realities of the Present, Hope for the Future (Part 2)

Posted on 01 Nov 2012 @ 9:54am by Captain Rebecca Post

1,365 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: M9: Rest, Recovery, and Reflection
Location: Planet Surface
Timeline: Mission Day Three, 1700hrs

Rebecca Post sat quietly, alone, on the small hill overlooking a river valley on the planet below, not far from the main colony but far enough away to feel alone. Given the busy day and a half she had had since arrival, not to mention a confrontation with a full bird Colonel and having to deal with disciplinary matters to which she hadn’t even been present, Rebecca had decided that she needed some time to herself. She had therefore finished all of the paperwork she had on hand and then absconded before any more could arrive, and would deal with them when she got back. Having high-tailed it down to the transporter room she had beamed down to an area just outside the colony and set off walking into the countryside. She had always enjoyed walking, alone in the wilderness rather than spending as much time in big cities, but it had always been a good way for her to relax, and especially calm herself down if she had managed to piss herself off, somehow, or more commonly if other people had pissed her off in some way, and it was fair to say that some had indeed done so.

She was in her fatigues, having seen no particular need to wear her duty uniform, the black combat boots were better for walking and the camouflage trousers were designed to dry quickly if they got wet, meaning she could wade across that river if she wanted to, the green Tee she wore bore both a Starfleet combadge over her left breast and the letters SFMC on the back in big, bold black letters. As she sat looking down at the water trickling past she was turning her dog tags over in her fingers thoughtfully. This was all too familiar and if she thought about it too much would bring back bad memories. Kalimor had been as beautiful, if not more so than this world, but that was before it had been attacked and ravaged by the enemy that to this day remained an unknown, only their raiding force had been destroyed by the task force led by the USS Intrepid after all, their home world had never been found. At some level it wasn’t even the abuses that she had sustained at their hands, although they were atrocious, rather it was more the fact that they were still out there, they could do it again to her, and they could still be a threat to the Federation.

Rebecca sighed to herself; she had come down here to relax not to start thinking of Kalimor again.

But then, Kalimor had shaped her in so many ways and had resulted in the person she was today, and had largely been responsible for her actions. She had always been stubborn, with two older brothers one pretty much would have to be, but it had been her stalwart refusal to give up on Kalimor that had prevented the entire colony from being captured in the first days and allowed her guerrilla campaign to last for so long before she herself was captured trying to rescue some children. It was that same stubbornness that had propelled her to get right in that Colonel’s face and to not back down in face of his ire, rather throwing it right back at him and his hypocrisy. In either event she knew that it was insubordination but the part of her that had survived Kalimor didn’t care, she had done what she had thought was right, another trait she had picked up on Kalimor; she could have laid low instead of fighting back, but she didn’t.

At the same time her ordeal on Kalimor, specifically after her capture, had left their marks on her, both physically and emotionally. She still had a number of scars over her torso (out of sight but not out of mind) which she had refused to allow to be healed with a dermal regenerator like those on her arms and legs, they still hurt sometimes, but had never the less refused to let those reminders of her failings and her successes on Kalimor to be removed, to the extent that she had got into an argument with the medical officer aboard USS Ticonderoga during her short time aboard that particular ship. Emotionally she was slow to trust anyone and, on a more personal side, was loath to let any man close to her, she had after all been raped on Kalimor and that trauma was still very painful to here, to say that it had been a long time for Rebecca would be an understatement, eight whole years. Part of her wanted to try again, but the other half snapped back with a whole wave of bad memories. It would take a lot to get Rebecca to open up, and so far she had not met any man, or hell even any woman, who was that patient and caring.

It was also what drove her through her life every day. When she had been recovered Starfleet Medical had originally intended to give her a medical discharge, this was not something that she had been willing to accept and had stated in no uncertain terms that if they wanted her out they were going to have to fire her, and they weren’t about to do that to the hero of Kalimor. It had taken a lot of work and more than a little pain but she had got back to operational status and had been cleared for active duty. The urge to protect the Federation’s citizens from ordeals like the one she had suffered was what drove her through every single day and would continue to do so. At the same time it made her incredibly dedicated to both the Corps and the Federation as a whole, which often manifested itself in a very bad reaction to dishonesty or betrayal, and resulted in a tendency to lash out at whoever is responsible for such

It was a damn shame. She had been a promising young Marine officer, and although she had been allowed back into the service she knew that there would still be periodic attempts by the Corps to get her out due to her mental scarring, indeed she had to spar with a counselor every single time she got a new assignment (this would be no difference), and it was entirely likely that in one way or another it would severely hamper her career over the long run. She hoped that she was wrong and that the bureaucracy had more of the dignity and honour that she knew the Federation as a whole possessed. But she also knew that as a result of Kalimor she was going to have to fight every day for the career that she loved, and that was something that she was willing to do, even if it was somewhat depressing.

Rebecca sighed and pulled herself to her feet, this sitting down and thinking was not doing any good, she had to get active and running so without any further thought she began to jog gently down the slope, once she was alongside the river she broke into a run and was soon enjoying the wind in her face, the gentle trickle of the water and of course the exertion from running. Now all she had to think about was the run, how best to use her energy and the route she would take that would get her back to the colony eventually. Making sure that there was no problems up ahead she closed her eyes briefly and just listened, she could hear the hiss of the wind as she ran, the trickle of the river and the gentle clinking sounds of her dog tags jangling around her neck as she ran. She always managed to relax when she ran, perhaps why she had been so eager to get running again after Kalimor, but it was something that she enjoyed and that was ultimately all that mattered, especially for her. She might have challenges and hurdles to overcome, but now all that mattered was the future.

 

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